OPERA America draws on resources and expertise from within and beyond the opera field to advance a mutually beneficial agenda that serves and strengthens the field through programs in the following categories:

Creation: Artistic services that help artists and companies increase the creativity and excellence of opera productions, especially North American works;

Presentation: Opera company services that address the specific needs of staff, trustees and volunteers;

Enjoyment: Education, audience development and community services that increase all forms of opera appreciation.

New York City is home to the nation’s largest concentration of performing and creative artists, professional training institutions and music businesses. A majority of OPERA America’s Professional Company Members hold or attend auditions in New York City annually, and opera leaders from Europe and around the world are regular visitors.

In response to the pressing need for appropriate space in New York by members who suffered from the lack of good audition and work facilities in the city, OPERA America created the National Opera Center. The Opera Center serves many functions that support the artistic and economic vitality of the field by providing its constituents with a range and level of services never before possible.

OPERA America serves members across the entire opera field through research, publications and services in support of the creation, performance and enjoyment of opera. Our work is only possible with the generous support of donors dedicated to the future of opera in America.

In an interview for Opera Canada, author and librettist Margaret Atwood
likened the writing of a libretto to the construction of a coat-hanger:
“If it’s a bad coat-hanger, that will be unfortunate, but if it’s a good
coat-hanger, nobody will notice it.”

Is it possible for librettists to assess the sturdiness of their creation
before entrusting the extravagant weight of an opera score to its delicate
structure? Can words meant for music be evaluated in the absence of that essential element?

The Libretto Reading Series at Brooklyn’s American Opera Projects attempts
to do just that, giving artists opportunity to hear a work read aloud and
then discuss its structure, characters, themes and pacing. “While obviously
spoken theater and opera are two very different art forms, you can look at the dramatic
rhythm in a particular way, figuring out where the important beats are before the
composer spends months writing music,” says Ned Canty, who is director of the series.
“It is useful for a composer to think about beats from a performance perspective, to make
sense of where you need a big shift in emotion, to see the amount of time an actor needs
to get from one beat to the next.”

The process is fairly straightforward: a group of actors rehearses the libretto —
ideally before any music has been written — then reads it as if it were a play.
“I encourage the composer and librettist not to come on the first day of rehearsals,”
says Canty. “That allows everyone to read through once, to ask the silly questions, to
speak openly about the problems and get that out of the way.”

Composer and librettist typically do attend the later rehearsals, and that time can be
even more revealing than the reading itself. “It allows them to hear from actors who are
used to thinking about character and asking questions about motivation. Usually we have
some time where a composer can interact and ask for things to be read differently. If, for
instance, he had imagined a scene faster or angrier, we can do it that way. It also allows
composers to hear different voices, to hear a line read in a way that might not immediately occur to them.”

The company tends to use actors, rather than singers, for several reasons. “There are so
few new operas that the experience of working on a new opera is something most singers don’t
have. On the other hand, there are hundreds if not thousands of new plays, and actors are
always workshopping them. Actors also tend to be more confrontational. They don’t just ask,
‘What do you want me to do?’ but ‘Why would I do that?’ They are possessive of roles in a
way that a singer often is not.”

The use of actors also helps avoid assumptions — on the part of creators, performers or
producers — at an early stage of the process. “There is no chance we are going to start
seeing them in this role,” says Canty. “They’re not there to audition. It keeps things simple.”

Stefan Weisman first worked with American Opera Projects
as part of its Composers and the Voice program, and
then went on to be commissioned, with librettist Anna
Rabinowitz, for his first opera, Darkling
(2006). Weisman benefited from a libretto reading prior to writing music for
his latest opera, Fade, with a libretto by David Cote. Fade
was commissioned by London’s Second Movement to form
a triple-bill with Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge and
Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti.

“It was very nerve-racking for me,” says Cote, who has
worked in the theater for many years as a critic, playwright
and actor. “I was convinced that the libretto was going to
sound terrible. It was not written to be performed without
music. But the reading was incredibly important to find out
if my text worked as drama, if it had consistency and internal
logic. Without the development process, Fade would have
been a much weaker piece.”

“When we were given an opportunity to have actors play
those parts, it was eye-opening,” says Weisman. “We
discovered all kinds of things we needed to revise and clarify.
The actors were able to tell us when things felt awkward, or
when they were moving too quickly. One actress in particular
had a very distinctive voice, and it was inspiring to hear her
speak the words before setting them to music.”

“Stefan and I showed up in the morning and the actors asked
some very pointed stylistic questions, like ‘How Pinter-esque
is this supposed to be?’” says Cote. “Certainly I’m a huge fan
and Pinter informed part of what I was doing — as did Albee
and others — but no one wants to be derivative.”

While some changes were minor, others involved altering the
structure of the piece, says Weisman. “It originally started
with a long solo aria, but we realized it needed a different
introduction. We found that people in the audience had
questions about things we had thought were pretty clear.
We were able to insert lines to clarify information and
relationships.”

Audience members also asked for clarification regarding the
workings of the “green” house in which the story takes place.
A power failure is central to the plot, but wouldn’t such a
house have a generator for emergencies? “It made me do a
bit more research about the house and how it could fail,” says
Cote. “You have to do all that backstory work. You have to
know every inch of the house, even if you don’t use it in the
piece.”

Perhaps the toughest part of the process for creators is sifting
through criticism and deciding what is relevant to their
goals: “There is an element of satire in the piece,” says Cote.
“While we were really careful not to make these ridiculous
stereotypes, one audience member implied our portrait was
naïve and condescending. I took that into consideration; you
want the characters to be as complex as possible. But you also
don’t want to take out all the satire or humor just to protect
someone’s feelings.”

In a time when fewer new operas are being produced, such
opportunities for librettists to hone their skills are more
important than ever. “In the golden age of Italian opera,
there were professional librettists — this is what they did,”
says Canty. “Today we have just a handful of people who are
writing a lot of libretti. In general that mentality of taking a
49 percent share in the creative process, that willingness to
collaborate, to edit and re-edit — these things do not come
as naturally to playwrights and poets. We are trying to help
recover that skill set. Giocosa and Illica sliced a whole act of
Bohème because it just wasn’t working. You have to have that
kind of ruthlessness. And it’s best and most cost-effective if it
can happen before the composer has written music.”

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All OPERA America facilities are handicapped accessible. The National Opera Center features ground-level entry with elevators to the venue. All spaces are wheelchair accessible, and modular seating can be arranged to accommodate wheelchair users for all programs and performances. Handicapped accessible restrooms are available on all floors.